


Birdfamily Battle Royal 2: The Obligatory Beach Story

by cjr09



Series: NaEldWriMo [4]
Category: Eldemore
Genre: #manyregrets, ANYWAY it's done I should be covered for two stories with this right, I actually had to google things people do at the beach for this, I better be, fun fact the working title for this was 'BENAHOWDARE' so that's a thing, i don't understand, obligatory beach things, stab me, stab me why is this so long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 06:26:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5153627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjr09/pseuds/cjr09
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not often that the birdfamily can coordinate themselves all together for a day at the beach, but when they do, it's sure to end in chaos- they're all too competitive for their own good, really, and the Sealer can only do so much before they have to let the dads duke it out for themselves in a show of bravado and bad sportsmanship and cheating.</p><p>At least the Sealer got some pets out of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birdfamily Battle Royal 2: The Obligatory Beach Story

It’s a rare occurrence that the entire birdfamily can be found together- Sorren is often away for months at a time on Watch Crow business, and Fenrir roaming the deserts- Cally forgetting that he is not, in fact, a plant and spending all his time in the greenhouse behind the birdfamily home, and who even knew what Willy was up to in that glass-smithing shop of his.

Not to mention the Sealer being away, saving the world or opening gates and tending to their ever-growing collection of creatures.

So when the entire birdfamily manages to get together _and_ manage to coordinate themselves enough to have a beach picnic, it’s certainly a once-in-a-two-blue-moons event.

“Sealer, slow down,” Sorren chides as the young hero runs around like a child- which they are, considering their ability to focus was nigh non-existent- giggling a bit maniacally and Willy slings his free arm around Sorren’s shoulders in a sideways hug, cheerfully squeezing the halfborn.

“Aww, don’t thunder on their parade, Sorren!” Willy says, and Fenrir’s head snaps toward the pair from where he’d been mercilessly teasing Caladaer at the mention of thunder.

“Will, stop trying to give Fenrir a panic attack indirectly. Fenrir, stop trying to turn Cally so red he’ll explode. Sealer, stop running around like a hyperactive dire, you’ll slip and hurt yourself and then the picnic you all made me make will go to waste,” Sorren sighs, voice flat and dull- at least Rue was behaving herself, keeping pace with the Sealer as they chat about all the things they’re going to do.

The Sealer slows down enough for the rest of them to catch up, bouncing on their heels before they dart ahead again, albeit a little slower than they had been going.

Once Fenrir’s sure the Sealer isn’t looking, the wolfkin flips Willy the bird and Willy returns the gesture happily behind Sorren’s back.

Sorren digs a few fingers into Willy’s side and the ex-pirate drops his hand with a yelp of pain, Caladaer maybe not resorting to physical violence but laying into Fenrir verbally.

“Hey, there it is!” The Sealer calls, delighted, breaking into a run again as they near their destination.

Willy laughs himself, jostling Sorren with his movements but careful not to overturn the picnic basket in his other hand- though Sorren had packed it so tightly with food he doubts anything would’ve moved anyway- and Sorren rolls his eyes at their charges’ childish display but Willy can see the slight upturn of his lips that betrays him.

Fenrir jogs a little to catch up with the rest of them, dragging Caladaer with him by his hand, and the Elvian huffs but doesn’t protest as Fenrir drags him along to the rest of the group.

“We should play volleyball,” the wolfkin says immediately and Sorren sighs again.

“Volleyball gets too competitive,” he counters, and Fenrir pouts, whining, “But _Sorrennnnn.”_

“We can play it later, maybe,” Caladaer intervenes before yet another fight about appropriate things to do on the beach, and Fenrir’s about to retort but the Sealer bounds back excitedly, bouncing up and down with their excitement until Willy lays a calming hand on their shoulder, holding them in place.

“What should we do first? Oh, can we build sand runes? Or even better, sand rune _pets?_ Can we go swimming and look for pets while we’re swimming? Can we go looking for sea shells I can give to people for pets? Oh, how about-”

Fiore silences the Sealer by gently placing her tail across their mouth and they glare at the Serval as even Sorren can’t hold back a chuckle at their enthusiasm.

They huff and Fiore rubs her cheek into the Sealer’s, purring innocently, and Delilah snaps at her dangling tail so the Serval flicks the Dire in the face with it.

Vipin breaks it up before they can take it any farther and Fiore leaps to the safety of Willy’s shoulders and the Sealer and Rue run (or for Rue, float) as fast as they can down to the beach and Caladaer laughs lightly at their childish glee, speeding up himself to keep an eye on the two and Fenrir huffs about being left behind before his face lights up with mischievous glee and he tears off after Cally, and the second they’re on the sand and not road he shouts “Pouncing lesson!” at the top of his lungs and all but tackles Cally into the beach, twisting carefully so that most of their combined weight lands on the offending wolfkin but still drags Cally down into the sand with him.

Fenrir laughs at Cally’s infuriated and surprised expression and Cally punches at the wolfkin until he relents and gets off the now-covered-in-sand elvian.

Cally grumbles threats under his breath, glaring daggers at Fenrir, and Fenrir hops back a few feet to avoid a fist to the face and the elvian brushes himself off angrily as the Sealer and Rue laugh in the background.

“This is a pretty good judgment of how the rest of today is going to go, isn’t it?” Sorren asks, watching the Sealer drag Fenrir away from Cally to help them search for pets, no doubt.

“Oh, probably,” Willy says, smiling, and Sorren rolls his eyes and they join the others on the beach.

 

* * *

 

They argue about what to do first- well, Fenrir does, he _really_ wants to play volleyball- and Cally demands that no one do anything until they all have sunscreen on ‘ _I don’t care what you think Fenrir you can get burned too if you’re not careful_ ’- and the Sealer begs to go swimming to look for pets and Sorren says that if they do they’ll wear themselves out before they can do anything else and Willy’s having too much fun watching the carnage to intervene.

They settle on building sand runes.

 

* * *

 

Fenrir and Willy both, as it turned out, are remarkably inept at building sand runes.

Sorren has no real interest in building them and as such has been designated the official ‘picnic-layer-outer’ and was in charge of laying out the picnic the other members of his ever-growing birdfamily had begged him to make and being on the lookout if any creatures come by for the Sealer to grab.

Willy and Fenrir decide to have a ‘who can build the best sand rune’ contest, and despite Willy being a pirate and Fenrir living in an actual, literal desert, they both end up with glorified piles of sand with leaves and seashells on top.

They reluctantly call it a draw and cheer on the Sealer, Cally and Rue as they build far more complex sand runes and snipe at each other from opposite sides of Sorren.

 

* * *

 

The Sealer absolutely _begs_ to go swimming, and much to Fenrir’s displeasure, the rest of the family relents and he pouts on the beach until Cally asks him what’s wrong with his genuine, concerned-friend-voice, and Fenrir angrily admits that he can’t swim.

Willy doubles over laughing and Fenrir lays a few threats on his life and Cally promises to teach him, then, and Fenrir grumbles angrily on the picnic blanket by himself until and Willy vanishes to ‘grab something’ and Cally is highly concerned.

Willy returns with a pair of floaties and Fenrir almost _actually_ kills Willy until Cally stops the impending fight by thanking Willy, ‘ _It’s much too unsafe to learn to swim without them’_ , and Fenrir puts up as much of a fight as he can.

Fenrir ends up wearing the floaties and manages to rope the rest of them into helping him learn how to swim, and if it's just an excuse to stare at everyone while they're half-naked, well, no one has to know.

 

* * *

 

Eventually, the Sealer decides to leave pet searching for another hour, and retreats to the beach.

They eat in relative silence- broken only by the occasional comment from Fenrir or Willy- and while it’s quiet it’s not awkward or uncomfortable and Sorren smiles.

Family meals have always been his favorites.

 

* * *

 

The sun peaks high in the sky and Cally insists that they take it easy until it cools down, and Sorren agrees quietly- Fenrir might be used to these kinds of things, but if Willy or the Sealer passed out from the heat he wasn’t carrying them home again.

Fenrir teases them for being wimps but joins them as they find a big enough umbrella to huddle under and wait out the sun until Caladaer deems it safe.

Sorren lies down with Willy, leaning mostly into him and very clearly using the man as something to prop himself up with as he pulls out a book from the now-mostly-empty  picnic basket and Willy pouts, making a comment about being ignored, and Sorren doesn’t respond verbally, only patting Willy’s cheek in condolence and Willy snorts, alternating between reading over Sorren’s shoulder and watching the halfborn’s face as he becomes engrossed in his book.

Cally has much the same idea, deciding to read himself, leaning up against Vipin- though Fenrir doesn’t react near as calmly as Willy, constantly bugging Cally for attention until he settles himself lying mostly in Cally’s lap, the elvian stroking his ears obligingly as he reads.

Fenrir falls asleep almost immediately and Willy snickers under his breath.

Even the Sealer is mostly quiet to allow for their current piece, picking seashells they like out of the sand and arranging them in different patterns at Rue’s request, and even Fiore and Delilah have set aside their ever-raging war, simply settling at opposite corners of the blanket, Fiore curled up at Willy’s side and Delilah on the other side of Vipin, Muzu perched delicately on top of Cally’s antlers, nibbling at his red hair.

The peace lasts.

 

* * *

 

Eventually, Fenrir wakes up with his arms wrapped around Cally’s waist and his face in the elvian’s stomach, and it’s really not as strange or rare of an occurrence as it probably should be- Fenrir’s learned to grab onto heat sources for the cold desert nights, and Cally cuddles unconsciously just because he likes the closeness- and Cally’s hand is still tangled in his hair, unmoving, which means the elvian’s either fallen asleep himself or has become too engrossed in his novel to keep petting him.

Fenrir stays where he is until he has to move because Delilah demands it, and he glares at his companion as best he can while yawning and untangling Cally’s hand from his hair as gently as he can.

The elvian stirs a little from his nap, book abandoned halfway open on his chest, but otherwise doesn’t move and Willy taps his finger to his lips for Fenrir to remain quiet, gesturing to Sorren who’s in much the same position as Cally, leaning up against Willy and very much asleep.

The sun hadn’t moved much- he’d probably only been out for half an hour- and the Sealer and Rue are still sorting their seashells, though they’re probably both in need of naps themselves, and so Fenrir gently takes Cally’s book from his chest, using a nearby leaf to mark the page because Cally couldn’t stand dog-earing them, and shuffles up until he can press his face into Cally’s collarbone instead, leaning into Vipin who simply shifts to accommodate the extra weight, and flips Willy off when the human snickers.

Another short nap wouldn’t hurt anyone, after all.

 

* * *

 

It takes a while for everyone to come to, missing each other and unwilling to break the silence, and even the Sealer manages to get some rest and they look more rested than they’ve been in weeks, and when the sun slips past afternoon and closer to evening Fenrir demands they all play volleyball before they have to leave and the rest of the birdfamily finally, finally agrees.

Fenrir doesn’t cheer aloud but it’s a near thing.

The Sealer and Rue insist to play on a team together against Fenrir and Willy, and they make it as far as one serve before the ball passes completely through Rue and ‘Team Hoarder’ gives up.

Fenrir immediately ropes Sorren and Cally into playing, and despite their best efforts Sorren pairs immediately with Cally- probably to stop the poor elvian from being trampled by the competitive human and wolfkin respectively- so ‘Team Sea Dogs’ (Which was immediately reduced to ‘Team Otterlings’) and ‘Team Feather Deerists’ - charmingly named by the Sealer, of course- take their places opposite the net.

“Ah- I don’t think I’ve ever played this game before,” Cally says, asking Sorren for assistance with his eyes, and the halfborn in question eyes Fenrir and Willy cautiously as they talk, hushed and no doubt malicious.

“All you really have to do is keep the ball from touching the ground and within the bounds. You have to hit it with your fist and not your hand; otherwise you might end up breaking a finger or two-” Sorren starts, but is cut off by a volleyball spiking right inbetween his and Cally’s feet and Caladaer shuffles back with a yelp and Sorren whips around to glare at Fenrir and Willy, both with twin smirks on their faces, looking every bit like children who just pulled off a cunning (to them, at least) prank.

“What’s the matter, Sorren?” Fenrir taunts, and Willy joins in immediately.

“You look like you need to _focus_ , Sorren!” Willy yells, giddy and the Sealer starts to laugh but Sorren silences them with a glare before turning it on Fenrir and Willy.

Caladaer calmly walks to the side, unhooking his necklace as he does, setting it and his earrings in a neat pile under their claimed umbrella and in the safe hooves of Vipin before returning to the designated volleyball court, stepping carefully over the lines drawn in the sand, face carefully void of emotion but eyes burning.

Fenrir makes a low ‘oooohhhhh’ sound, practically hopping with excitement- his tail is wagging despite himself, and Sorren and Cally are both looking at them with the fire of hunting in their eyes and Fenrir thinks that suddenly he might have a really, really hard time focusing- and the Sealer hides behind Rue in fear.

"Why don't you let the grown-ups have some time to play, kiddo?" Willy asks the Sealer lightly, smiling as he usually does when he gets to play a game against Sorren, even if it is just volleyball, and the charged air meant there was probably more than one curse and death threat exchanged.

"Is this gonna be like that 'special alone time' you have with Sorren all the time because while it'd be great to officially have four dads you're kind of in public and I’m _pretty sure_ that this isn’t that kind of beach-"

“Homework!” Sorren threatens immediately, and the Sealer and Rue make themselves scarce.

Fiore designates herself the referee, and Delilah takes it upon herself to make sure it’s fair, and the two have a glaring contest aggressive enough to rival the one on the court.

Muzu hastily follows after the Sealer and Vipin stays as far away as he can while keeping an eye on their belongings.

 

* * *

 

Any and all rules to the game are thrown into the sea with the same vitriol waffle irons are and it’s less of a game and more of a _war_ with the way they’re playing.

They attract a small crowd for a while, but the second Sorren spikes the ball hard enough to send it spiraling into a nearby umbrella with enough force to tear it they flee in the same manner the Sealer did earlier.

The details of the game are a blur as they each take this probably way too seriously, so focused are they on their task- Sorren would be impressed, when this is over- and it does, eventually, cost them when Caladaer suddenly falls over in, eyes glassy as his knees give out, ivory skin a sickly pale and the others rush to his side.

He waves them off weakly, “Just- just a little dizzy, suddenly,” he’s gasping a bit, acutely aware of how he hadn’t been drinking water, and Vipin is immediately at his side, concerned for his bonded.

Fenrir has none of his excuses and downplaying and picks Cally up- the elvian punches Fenrir in the back once in protest- and sets him down back underneath the shade and Sorren hands him a water bottle which the elvian takes with a sheepish smile.

“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Willy jokes, ruffling Cally’s hair fondly, acutely aware of his own exhaustion, now that the adrenaline of the game had worn off and he can see that the sun was very near setting, and the elvian laughs weakly in spite of himself.

“Hey… where’s the Sealer?” Fenrir asks, slowly then more panicked as they don’t become immediately apparent, and Sorren springs to his feet at the same time he does looking around wildly.

The sea all but _explodes_ in front of them.

There are Dire Wolves with long, reptilian tails and jagged teeth and Ligers with much the same appearance, with only a vague difference, Elkrin that look like they’re made of bits and pieces of sunken ships and Slepnir with kelp in their manes and tails and eyes glowing red, Jackalopes that look like creatures from the deep sea, with white eyes and glowing softly with their bioluminescence and teeth that put Delilah’s to shame, Drakes with wings and tails like a stingray’s and many, many more.

The Sealer is at the head of them, smiling widely with Rue at their side and Muzu perched on their head, cradling a metallic rune dragon in their arms.

“Guess what I just did!”

 

* * *

 

“So I was walking down the beach, as one does, and one of the ocean ancients- did you know that there was a ton that ruled over the eleven seas? There’s like at least twelve of them- and one of them asked me to come play some card games with them! So I brought Rue and Muzu and we went down to this awesome sunken ship place, and it’s built up a lot like those pubs I’m not supposed to tell Sorren Willy and Fenrir go to sometimes to gamble, and we played some card games! We were using sea shells instead of baubles, and since I’ve been collecting them, I had a bunch to bet! I played like Willy and Fenrir taught me, and I ended up winning everyone’s seashells, so they started trading me pets for them back! Look, the Leviathan even gave me this Rune-” the Sealer hefts up the strange, slightly rusting metal rune dragon who coos at the Sealer, nuzzling into their cheek, “- and apparently she’s called the Waffle Mother? Levi says she was born from this pile of waffle irons at the bottom of the ocean, and that she’s trying to make wafflekind stand for something other than hatred? I didn’t really understand it, but she’s cute and I got a new Rune Dragon! She says she can make waffles, too, so I can have waffles on the road if I want-”

Finally, Willy intervenes, a stern expression on his face, “no child of mine will eat waffles.”

“Is that really what you're focusing on, Wilhelm?” Sorren says more than asks, eyes narrowed dangerously- WIlly winces because nothing good _ever_ came out of the use of his full name- and levels Willy with a glare as the ex-pirate tries to say something else, “And don’t think I’ve forgotten about you and Fenrir taking the Sealer to pubs.”

Willy makes an apologetic noise, begging with his eyes to not be on the couch tonight.

Sorren turns away and Fenrir winces in sympathy.

Willy pouts as Cally helps the Sealer get all their pets in order and as the sun dips below the horizon they move to a small fire pit because _“Rue’s never had s’mores, Sorren please this is a state of national emergency.”_

 

* * *

 

They make s’mores and the Sealer names all their new pets with input from the rest of the birdfamily and the Waffle Mother alternates between hissing lowly at Willy and cooing over the Sealer and Rue declares s’mores her new favorite food, even if they’re not sure if Rue can actually taste them, but she puts a lot of energy into eating one so she must like it.

The Sealer almost falls asleep sitting up and Willy declares it bed time, so they finally pack up and start to make their way home- the Sealer does fall asleep on top of Vipin and Rue sits next to them, more transparent than usual, and Fenrir carries Cally piggy-back- much to the elvian’s mortification, but luckily for him there’s not many people on the streets at this hour- and Cally ends up falling asleep as well, head on Fenrir’s shoulder, and the wolfkin doesn’t bother to hide his gentle smile and Sorren lets Willy hold his hand on the way back, so Willy doesn’t at least have to sleep on the couch (or so he hopes), and the Sealer’s latest pets follow passively and probably frighten anyone and everyone attracted by the noise back into their homes and it’s about as close to perfect as a day can get.

(Willy still has to sleep on the couch, at the end of it, so it’s only close to perfect.)

(Sorren lets him back into the room after a few hours of too much bedspace for one person and then it’s perfect.)

**Author's Note:**

> guess who doesn't know how to end stories it's Cjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
> 
> Bena asked for this so long ago I can't even remember but here it is way 2 long and killing me slowly
> 
> honestly these nerds were playing volleyball long enough for the Sealer to have an entire mini-event you guys need to focus more
> 
> I can't even begin to imagine how awful this must look there is like six hours of solid writing time in this garbage just aaaaaaaaaa
> 
> Alternately titled 'In Which Fenrir Is Just Really Gay'
> 
> Also, someone, //anyone//, make the Waffle Mother a reality for me because I love her. I really hope she doesn't find Azara and team up with her, Willy, because then you've got //two// hate-filled runes out to get you.
> 
> (Sphye you wanted the waffle iron back and I hope I did you proud)
> 
> NaEldWriMo, day 4 I guess


End file.
